


The Mystery of Herondale Castle

by LieutenantJinx



Category: Howl no Ugoku Shiro | Howl's Moving Castle, Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types, The Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Howl's Moving Castle AU, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:46:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25941568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LieutenantJinx/pseuds/LieutenantJinx
Summary: James Carstairs manages his parents' clothing shop after their untimely deaths. He lives a busy and solitary life, but one day after meeting a mysterious man on his way to visit an old friend, Jem finds himself the target of the last person he would have ever wanted to see. Cursed with an incurable illness, Jem is thrust into an adventure full of love, friendship, and revenge, and finds that family doesn't have to have a blood relation.
Relationships: Charlotte Branwell/Henry Branwell, Jem Carstairs/Tessa Gray, Jem Carstairs/Will Herondale, Tessa Gray/Will Herondale
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	The Mystery of Herondale Castle

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came after I watched Howl's Moving Castle and heard Howl describe Sophie's hair as "starlight". I'm taking inspiration from both the book and the movie while trying to stray from having this be a copy-paste version of Howl's Moving Castle where I just change some words to make it fit. I have this story listed as mature just in case I decide to do anything heavier than what the original book or movie has to offer. Please note that I don't plan on adding any sexual content, but I might add some darker themes later on. I'll be sure to add tags accordingly! I hope you enjoy reading this, and please read the notes at the end!

Jem Carstairs was an only child. The stigma of that differed astoundingly between person to person, haunting him every day as he grew older. He remembered hearing his mother’s friends heckling her while they believed he was out of earshot. “You should have another child,” they scoffed to her, “That way your dear Jem doesn’t end up a spoiled brat!” While the words might have occasionally struck fear in his mother, the entire family knew that this would not be the case. While Jem was loved unconditionally by both of his parents, they set boundaries and rules that allowed him to grow up as a brilliant only child. Everyone was amazed at Jem’s upbringing, but he could not shake the fact that he was destined to be a failure and struggle later in his lifetime. _ Curse these stereotypes,  _ he spoke to himself one day as he crawled into his bed. He was determined to break the stigma, but sometimes the belief that these things would come true was enough to cause him great pain.

As the years went on, Jem spent most of his time trying to ignore the curse of being an only child. His focus was on helping maintain the family apparel shop. He would help his mother sew or tailor clothes for their guests, and on days when they were particularly bursting with customers, would help his father in the main room in selling merchandise. Before he was even born, the Carstairs Tailoring shop was known around all of Market Chipping as the best place to go. Jem knew that it was mostly due to his parents’ tireless efforts of putting care into every aspect of their business, but he couldn’t help but be at least a little proud of himself as well. The Carstairs’ kept their business thriving for years, pleasing every new customer that set foot into their store. However, when Jem was nearing his sixteenth birthday, things began to take a sour turn.

He distinctly remembered that day when he was left in charge of the shop. His mother had to go out to the market as she usually did, and his father had to purchase more fabrics for the shop. The two had left together, and Jem did not take notice whenever the sky darkened and customer traffic slowed to a halt. “Is it really time to close already?” he questioned as he stepped outside into the cool night air to escape the stuffiness of the shop.  _ Mother and father should have been back by midday! I wonder where they could be…? _

His question was answered all too soon when two men walked up to him. They were wearing the typical olive green uniform that indicated their status as official guardsmen of Ingary. Jem realized he was making a face, a rather confused one at that, and began to stare down the guards. After what seemed like forever, one finally spoke up. 

“G’d Evenin’, sir,” he spoke in a thick accent that Jem couldn’t quite place. “Are you James Carstairs?”

Jem found that he could not speak. Something about the timing of their appearance and oddness of the hour made him feel unsettled. Instead, he gave a small nod in response. The other man spoke through a thick beard which somehow aided in making his voice sound calmer than it probably was. “Might we come into your shop, sir?” he asked. Jem nodded again, taking one shaky hand and opening the door for the two guardsmen. They neatly shuffled in a single-file line through the door.

The shop bell jingled as he closed the door behind him. It was a quaint little establishment: rows of brightly colored dresses hung on one wall, accompanied by a seating area for family or friends of the shop’s customers to wait. The bearded guard sat there, marveling at the array of dresses that mostly Jem’s mother had made. The other guard, who had been standing awkwardly by the counter in the back of the room was eyeing the many suits that hung on the other side. While Jem was afraid as to the reason why there were two guards that showed up at the family shop, he couldn’t stand to sit there and watch them not do anything. “Ahem…” he gently cleared his throat to get their attention. Both guards looked over to him, the bearded guard standing up as he did so. 

“I am afraid that we bring terrible news with us.” Jem of course knew this was coming. He clenched his fists in his pockets, trying to hold back the fear he was feeling deep inside himself. “What is the news then, sirs?” He could not deny that he was getting impatient with all of this. Just then, the guard removed his hat and looked Jem straight into his eyes.

“I am afraid that the great Wizard Yanluo has returned to the Wastes,” the bearded guard reported. His partner stood beside him now, his hat also taken off to address the direness of the situation. Jem could feel a cold chill run down at the mention of Yanluo. Market Chipping had believed for so long that Yanluo had simply left, but before that, he was known to terrorize young children and put terrible curses on people for his personal enjoyment in their suffering. As a child, his mother used to warn him about Yanluo before he would go outside to play, making sure that he never went off with strangers, and that he was always with a large group of friends when he went out. Long after Yanluo stopped appearing, the warriness still stuck with him, and he found himself traveling with his friends Tessa and Charlotte to the market or simply to take walks.

“Yanluo has returned?” The question was faint, fear pooled out of his mouth along with the words. Why were they telling him this now? “Where are my parents?” he asked the two guards, whose heads had been bowed after their horrible news.

“Wizard Yanluo has targeted them,” the bearded man announced. “I’m sorry, but your parents have been killed.”

***

While Jem held his composure in front of the gentlemen guards, he wasn’t sure if it was reflecting how he actually felt, or if he wasn’t responding because of shock. He had offered them tea and cake as if nothing had ever happened, but the guards refused as they had to get back to work. Jem stayed up into the late hours of the night in his mother’s small sewing room fastening buttons onto dress pants and dresses until he began to feel his eyes droop. It wasn’t until he walked into the living quarters of the house and into his parents’ room to wish them a good night that his emotions caught up with him.

He hadn’t realized what he was doing until it had already been done, and he suddenly remembered why the guards had come earlier in the night. Tears flooded Jem’s eyes as he looked in to see his parents’ empty bed. All he could think of to do was fling himself into the sheets and lay there until some of the pain ebbed away. He curled up, feeling somehow safer in the empty house and knowing that his parents had slept there the very night before.  _ What could that awful wizard have wanted with you… _ he questioned the pillow. After what seemed like a few minutes of staining his father’s side of the bed with tears, Jem felt himself drift into a heavy slumber, cradled in the memory of his parents.

***

After that night, Wizard Yanluo’s name vanished from the town almost as quickly as it entered. While a lingering fear still found its way into the air, many people found a new threat that loomed over them: The Great Wizard Herondale. Jem often wondered why these wizards wanted to terrorize his small town so badly, he just wished that they would leave it alone so that he could finally feel safe. 

It had been only a few years since Jem’s parents had died at the hands of Yanluo, and in that time many things had changed. To start, Jem had been running the apparel business mostly by himself with the aid of Tessa, whom he hired to help sell the items while he worked behind the scenes in handcrafting expertly made dresses and suits. He was glad that his mother taught him well before her passing. 

Wizard Yanluo had completely left Market Chipping immediately after he had killed his parents, which told Jem that Yanluo had come there for that reason. He did not understand what the wizard had against his family, but he felt his anxieties subside when the talk of the town turned from various mumblings of, “Don’t go out alone at night or the evil wizard will get you!” to sweet nothings of “how old is this fish?” or “your fruits are beautiful” and even “James Carstairs made me this lovely dress!”. He always smiled at those.

He was just glad that his mother was still living on through his work.

The safe feeling lasted for a much shorter time than Jem had hoped. He remembered walking around the market one day to pick up food for the night when he heard a terrified scream from a small girl. “It’s Herondale’s Castle!” she cried in a very squeaky voice, pointing frantically at the hillside neighboring their town. Looking up from the table of assorted fruits he had been hounding, Jem saw it in the distance, a faint dot moving across the horizon.  _ It’s...moving?  _ Jem was confused, but he supposed that weirder things had happened in the town before. Witches and wizards had always driven through Market Chipping offering love potions and talking animals, one time even a stuffed toy that acted like a real bear cub, so perhaps the fact that Herondale Castle was moving shouldn’t have frightened him as much as it did.

But then the town began to react too.

“I heard that Wizard Herondale only goes through the town at night and eats the hearts of the most beautiful women he finds!” Jem heard a little boy say one day to a scared girl. Slowly afterwards, the rumours of the town began to unfold. He would hear chatter in his shop downstairs to Tessa saying that she should be careful going out at night or the Wizard Herondale would capture her. Tessa always laughed these off, knowing that the town’s hysterics were often always too much. “If that wizard is planning on eating my heart, then so be it,” she said one day as she picked a dress for a customer to try on. “I am not letting some hot-headed wizard ruin my sanity and my ability to go outside at night.”

Jem had always admired Tessa’s attitude like that. She was practically fearless, and even though he did not fit the demographic of a ‘beautiful woman’, he still felt afraid of the night. Perhaps it was because his parents died rather unexpectedly after dark. He always felt a tinge of pain when the sun began to set and thought that maybe it was a part of him believing that his parents were still alive during the day, but they would die again every time the sun fell.

In fact, the sun was beginning to set again as Jem pulled the needle through one last button on a salmon pink suit and pants he had been working on all day. His fingers hurt and his back ached from the position he had been sitting in for the past couple of hours. He decided it was time to set down his work and close up the shop. Jem got up, stretching out fully before creaking downstairs to see Tessa sitting lavishly in one of the guest chairs. She wore a bright yellow gown that Jem had designed just for her, and her hair was laid out in a brilliant display of chestnut curls spilling over her shoulders. Jem couldn’t deny that she was very beautiful, and that worried him.

“I think I should be closing up the shop now,” he called to her. “Are you sure you should be going out this late?”

Tessa immediately scoffed. “Please don’t tell me you’re in on this delirium as well, James,” she said, smiling up at him. Jem was almost taken back by her response and wished that Tessa would be more careful, but perhaps she was right. Maybe all of this was a stupid fantasy made up by the people of the town, but a lingering unsteadiness filled his mind. The town had been right to fear Wizard Yanluo, so what if the town was right to fear this Herondale? Jem’s hands began to shake.

“You’re my friend, Tessa,” he said, and before he knew it he could feel tears stinging the backs of his eyes and throat, making it hard for him to speak. “I don’t want you to die like my parents did because of this...this stupid wizard that won’t leave the town alone!” Jem choked back a sob as Tessa stared at him with her wide, grey eyes and almost immediately, Jem was swept away in the sweetest hug he had ever felt. She smelled like roses, and her hair was as soft as silk against his skin. He couldn’t help but tremble into her, holding her gently as his fears washed over him. As suddenly as he was engrossed by her, he felt her starting to let go. One of her hands untangled itself from him and drew up to gently wipe a tear from his paling face.

“I’m strong, James Carstairs,” she assured him, “but I am not strong enough to see you hurt like this.” 

Taking his hand in hers, she guided him to the seating area and forced him to sit on a very plush stool. Running her fingers through inky black hair, she sighed into him. “If it would make you feel better that I don’t go so late at night, then I shall stay here and comfort you all you want, but I have a feeling this isn’t the only reason you want me to stay.”

Tessa was too smart, she was sometimes able to analyze Jem without even him understanding what his issues were. “James,” she started again and Jem looked up at her, his brown eyes were red rimmed and puffy, but Tessa still smiled the sweetest smile to him. “Are you afraid of the night?”

Trembling, he nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! The next chapter is on the way! I just wanted to point out here that I have a Shadowhunters themed Discord server that needs more people in it! I'll be leaving the link here, but please note that this server is available for people of all ages and is used as a place to discuss your favorite parts of the fandom (no matter how much you know about it) and for potential RPs. Sections are divided up for any 18+ content so feel free to join! https://discord.gg/ZRk6Xe


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